Stereo Love
by TheAquaQueen
Summary: After the events in the Somali Desert, with Abby and Ziva's relationship survive?


**Stereo Love**

_**One – Shot**_

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><p>'<strong>I won't fight these butterflies and we don't give a dang, dang, dang about nobody.'<strong>

-_ All About Him – Auburn_

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><p><strong>Author<strong>** – **ScarletBloodDoll

**Date Started/Date Ended**** – **April 08th, 2011 – May 03rd, 2011

**Category**** –** N.C.I.S.

**Rating – PG - 13**

**Warnings**** – **Female Relationship/Spoilers for 06.25 'Aliyah', 07.01 'Truth or Consequences'

**Pairings**** –** Ziva David/Abigail Scuito

**Disclaimer**** – **ScarletBloodDoll does not own the premise or character of N.C.I.S. **(Warner Brothers)** and is a non – profit effort. ScarletBloodDoll also does not own the song 'Stero Love' by Edward Maya – No copy right infringement is intended.

_**When you're gonna stop breaking my heart?**_

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><p>Ever since Ziva David had returned from the Somali Desert she had not been the same; she did not act the same hell, she did not even look at her the same way she once did.<p>

_**I don't wanna be another one, pay for things I never done…**_

At first Abby had done what everyone does, she had given her the benefit of the doubt. Ducky had suggested giving the woman space and that in time she would come around. So she waited…and waited…and waited.

_**Don't let go, don't let go to my love.**_

Sure it was odd that she could never catch a moment with the woman who was her lover or as it seemed former lover, at this point in time. The Goth scientist had simply chalked it up to their influx in cases and thought nothing more of it.

_**Can I get to your soul? Can you get to my thought? **_

Days passed.

Weeks passed.

As they said, in hindsight vision is always 20/20. As she thought back to it now, in the shadows of the strobe lights all of the signs were there. She should have known better. Why didn't she confront the issue head on?

_**Can we promise we won't let go?**_

When Ziva David returned to N.C.I.S. bruised and battered, Abby had not waited a single second to envelop the woman in a hug. Yet, the abused woman stood there and did nothing; she had simply stared straight ahead, eyes void of emotion. Abby would have been better off squeezing Bert the Hippo.

_**All the things I need, All the things that you need. You can make it all so real.**_

Two and a half months, 64 days after the assassins' return it was McGee who had given her the heads up and sure enough, when Ziva had synched her iPhone to her computer there was a downloaded app. that provided an easy escape; a call or text in a pinch with past alarm settings recorded a few minutes before she visited her lab. Once this new information had sunk in and inconsolable, she no longer reached out to her former lover.

'_**Cause you can't deny, you've blown my mind, when I see you baby, I just don't wanna let go.**_

Ziva avoided Abby.

Abby avoided Ziva.

This was the new way of life at N.C.I.S. headquarters.

No one commented on the change but looks were a dime a dozen.

Not even Gibbs could bring himself to say a word, the woman were cold, distant yet professional.

'_**Cause you can't deny, you've blown my mind, when I touch your body, **_

She did not understand.

Yet she understood.

She did not want to accept this new way of life.

Yet she could not stand there and force something and be where she was not wanted.

_**I feel I'm loosing control.**_

Though resigned to her fate, she smiled and did not put up a fight. Although from time to time, Gibbs caught her staring at her photo or watching the feed from the bullpen. He said nothing.

_**I hate to see you cry, my love is dying inside. **_

It was passed midnight when Abby decided to call it quits and head home. The building itself was a ghost town compared to its normal activity during waking hours and this fact was proved when she discovered her beloved hearse with a flat tire.

Instead of calling AAA in the dead of night and knowing how long it would take them to get here much less go through security, she made her way back into the building hoping to catch Gibbs, Tony or McGee for a quick ride. As the doors slid open, she found Gibbs and McGee's desks cold while Tony and Ziva's were alit with their desk lights and their things lying at their exit.

"Tony, Tony, Tony. Where are you?" Abby sighed and began to make her way through the various interrogation transcribing rooms, wedges echoing along the empty halls. After checking one room after another, she opened the door to their 'favorite' interrogation room only to find two heads snapping up at her entrance. Taken aback, Tony held a swollen, red – eyed Ziva within his arms. Ziva's eyes widened at her entrance and for a moment, you could have cut the air with a knife the tension was so thick. In a spilt second Abby sputtered, "I – umm…goodnight Tony. Ziva."

The scientist quickly spun on her heel and shut the door before finding one of the lesser used stairwells and nearly running down four flights of stairs to her lab. For tonight, she would rather be doing work in a studious effort to feel the stabbing at her heart. The cot would suffice.

_**I hate to see you cry, you're smile is a beautiful lie.**_

There was a time when Ziva would turn to her comfort and an even rarer time when tears would sparkle at her eyelashes. That time was long gone and she did not know how to move on. The point was only drive home further by the fact that it appeared her former lover had moved on with their teammate.

She watched how they seemed to smile at each other more.

She watched how they seemed to banter at each other with more of an affectionate tone.

She watched how they seemed to deliberately touch each other more.

As she watched their relationship blossom, her bubble personality no became a façade and the smile no longer reached her eyes.

_**I can fix all those lies, Oh baby, baby I run, but I'm running to you. **_

When it rained, it poured.

The thunder shook at her every fiber.

The lightening only served to highlight the trails of tears that ran her make – up and the pictures that were thrown about her apartment.

Abby wanted her old Ziva back.

Abby wanted what Ziva now had with Tony back.

If only she could have one last kiss, one last genuine hug and to hear one 'I love you' for the last time, she could move on. She did not understand.

Abby wanted to call her, she wanted to scream at her 'You won!'. In the end out of pure frustration, she threw her phone into the wall which shattered into several pieces mimicking the remains of her broken heart.

She knew what she had to do.

_**You won't see me cry, I'm hiding inside. My heart is in pain but I'm smiling for you.**_

In the quickest fashion, she found a box and began to throw any remains of Ziva David presence away. Along the way, she found herself beginning to pack her own things and knowing she had to take the most drastic measures possible.

_**Can I get to your soul? Can you get to my thought? Can we promise we won't let go?**_

Any photo of them was promptly thrown in the fireplace without a second look back.

Along with a spare gun, various clothing items, jewelry Abby needed to make her own point. She spent hours agonizing and perfecting the letters themselves, once she had printed out a shipping label scheduled to deliver in exactly a week, she sealed her letter with her perfume and threw it in the box.

_**Can't deny, you've blown my mind. When I touch your body, I feel like I'm loosing control.**_

Her resolve for a new life was tested as she walked into the bedroom now void of another's things. Memories flooded her vision like a movie playing on a screen. She could feel the light feather touches Ziva once bestowed upon her when she was in a playful mood or the forceful and rough touches when Ziva had worked a particularly gruesome case.

_**All the things that I need, All the things that you need, You can make it feel so real. **_

As she returned to work the next morning, she quietly slipped off to various sections of the office.

Slowly and little by little, she saved her personal research and begun to throw her knickknacks into her purse day by day until the lab was void. When McGee raised and eyebrow and dared to ask what she was doing, she bubbly replied with 'Spring Cleaning' and kissed him on the check.

'_**Cause you can't deny, You've blown my mind. When I see you baby, I just don't want to let go.**_

It started with Ziva and it would end with Ziva.

Two nights before her departure she began to write out formal letters instead of a goodbye. She knew that they would stop her. She knew Gibbs would demand that they 'fix' things. Yet she knew things could never be the same again.

Doctor Mallard – short and sweet.

McGee – the one with the most information, the one who would understand why she was doing this.

Tony – she couldn't bring herself to voice her anger and simply wished him the best.

Gibbs – his letter was by far the longest and the most detailed and yet she asked of him to not bestow that of a harsh punishment upon the other agents. Of course, she wrote her new number down and asked him to keep her whereabouts a secret. In time she would return.

Ziva. This would be her second letter addressed to the former MOSSAD agent. She could only bring herself to write three words.

'Goodbye, Ziva David.'

_**When you're gonna stop breaking my heart?**_

The eve of her departure Tony had gleefully come into her lab claiming the rest of the team were headed out to the nearby bar and she was more than welcome to come. With a smile, she politely declined feigning exhaustion and that she would catch up with them some other time.

"You're missing out!" He called back to her as he sauntered out. As she turned back to the last file she would ever complete for N.C.I.S. for the time being, she failed to see Tony standing in the shadows, shaking his head at the mess this had become.

_**I hate to see you cry, Your smile is a beautiful life. I hate to see you cry, my love is dying inside. **_

With a final click, she saved the remaining file before sending it off to Gibbs. For the first time since she arrived, she logged out of her accounts. With a sigh, she gently patted her machines and closed and locked the lab door.

_**I hate to see you cry, my love is dying inside. **_

"Director Vance, Abigail Scuito to see you."

His assistant opened the door and she stepped in, the door quietly closing behind her.

"Your final termination papers I take it?"

In a rare moment, Abby could not find the words and approached his desk, handing him the manila file. "I assure you, you will be missed."

"I know," she nodded and looked him in the eye.

"I also assure you that when you decide to return to world of forensics we will outbid all other competitors."

Abby smiled and nodded. "Thank You and I am sorry for the short notice."

_**I have a feeling inside, my love is burning alive.**_

The music pulsated.

Bodies twisted and turned around each other creating a friction that could warm any winter night.

The ice in her drink she had ordered an hour had long since melted.

The men had passed by her with curious looks and perhaps a request to dance.

The woman had passed by her but quickly realized she was here for one thing only.

Steeling herself, she prepared herself for her final goodbye if no one knew it.

_**I can fix all those lies, Oh baby, baby I run, but I'm running to you.**_

She had a plan.

She did not know if she had the will to pull off this said plan.

She needed to get her point across.

She needed closure.

Abby made her way down the staircase from the second floor of the club and as heads turned and sea of people parted. Ziva had had her back turned to her but Tony quickly notice of her arrival and tapped Ziva and pointed at her.

Heads turned and eyes widened as one caught sight of Abby's outfit. Not only was the dress a deep navy but it clung and hugged every curve, showing the right amount of pale skin and cleavage. From across the room, their eyes locked and pupils dilated.

_**You won't see me cry, I'm hiding inside**_

_**My heart is in pain but I'm smiling for you. **_

As the sea of people continued to part, Abby was focused on person only. Abby was mere feet away from Ziva, when Ziva crossed those last first steps intent on the first but was stopped short when Abby pressed her lips to hers, in attempt to convey the amount of hurt, love, sadness and care she had for the woman. The kiss was met with a round of cheers and whistles before the next song started, while it seemed to last for an eternity they broke apart within second. Green eyes found their vision slightly obscured by a fresh wave of tears while chocolate eyes accompanied a bewildered expression.

Abby needed to go.

Abby needed to run.

She turned to run only to find her path stopped when her fingers were intertwined with that of her former lover.

"Abby wait…"

She vigorously shook her head. "Please…"

Tony intervened and Abby was none the more grateful before stepping away and taking her chance to escape through the sea of bodies and bursting through the door and into the cold, winter night. "Let her go," Tony had murmured into her ear.

_**Oh Baby, I'll try to make things right**_

_**I need you more than air when I'm not with you**_

McGee was the first to notice and in due time, he alerted the team.

On a Monday afternoon this is where Gibbs, McGee, Tony and Ziva stood; in front of a closed lab with a new nameplate in place.

Gibbs rapped on the door twice before allowing himself in, "Abby?"

An unknown woman came through the automatic doors on the other side of the lab and looked up from the file in her hand, "Oh! Agent Gibbs! How are you?"

"Who are you?" asked Gibbs.

"Where is Abby?" asked Tony.

"Oh? Ms. Scuito? Did Director Vance not notify you? Ms. Scuito decided to take a rather, _long_ leave of absence."

"You mean she was fired?" McGee was outraged.

"No. She quit." The new forensic scientist answered.

_**Please don't ask me why, just kiss me this time**_

_**My only dream is about you and I**_

Gibbs was furious.

McGee was upset.

Tony was sullen.

Ziva was confused.

In silence, they returned to their desk with Gibbs well on his way to give Director Vance a piece of his mind only to be called back down to his desk when he spotted a black envelope with white writing sitting on his desk.

"Go home," Gibbs had muttered upon finishing the letter. For he could not look at his own field agents with the exception of McGee. Tony motioned to McGee and the two gathered their things before entering the elevator.

_**Ziva, **_

_** I want to say I understand. I want to say that I know how this happened. Yet I find I do not know the answers and you haven't been willing to talk to me. Perhaps I should have said something, perhaps I should have tried harder but I am not sure how long you expected me to wait. It seems as though you have moved on with Tony and if you have, I wish you nothing but the best. **_

_** Please, do not try and look for me. I couldn't have stayed here knowing how close you were, yet so far away. I need to move on, it seems you have. In time, I may return and we can be friends one day. Until then, I wish you luck and happiness. **_

_** With all of my love, **_

_** Abigail Scuito**_

_**P.S. **_

_** Do not threaten McGee or Tony with acts of violence; even they do not know where I have gone. Frankly neither does Gibbs but do not even threaten him for the information he has.**_

It was then that Ziva David realized what a grave mistake she had made.

**Fin**

**ScarletBloodDoll**

**Author's Note – **

The original lyrics to 'Stereo Love' were altered to fit the premise of this story. Reviews are appreciated!


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